Chapter 1159. Tight on Time (4)

“Everyone has an aptitude for something,” said Kang Jin-Ho, a wry smile on his face.

Anything was possible with enough hard work, but one must not forget that the

direction

of the hard work was crucial.

Kang Jin-Ho wasn’t trying to look down on Lee Hyeon-Su, but... Anyone with eyes could tell that Lee Hyeon-Su had no talent in martial arts!

“Wiggins, how talented is Lee Hyeon-Su in magic?”

Wiggins grimly explained the situation. “Mister Lee got his start very late in life, my lord. And he's become too ingrained in the habits and customs of Eastern martial arts. I'd say he's saddled with one of the absolute worst handicaps.”

“I see. So? What is he like?”

“In short, he's a genius, my lord,” said Wiggins firmly. “It is incredibly unfortunate that he had to start learning magic so late in life. Thankfully, magic is more like a field of study rather than a physical activity like martial arts. Since one's age isn't the biggest hurdle in magic, the possibilities are there for Mister Lee. As long as he diligently polishes himself, I'm sure he will become an amazing mage.”

“I see. But the problem is...”

“The man himself isn’t interested.”

Wiggins and Kang Jin-Ho groaned again in perfect sync.

What a lamentable turn of events this was.

You couldn't make a horse drink water if it didn't want to. Despite knowing that, Wiggins and Kang Jin-Ho couldn't hide their disappointment at how things turned out.

Every person had a talent for something. If you were aiming to reach somewhere high up, might as well do so with a profession you had the aptitude for!

‘How should I put this...?’

Kang Jin-Ho frowned slightly. It felt like he was watching from the VIP seat the one-and-only Michael Jordan getting three strikes from high balls aimed at his torso... In Minor League Baseball!

It might have been interesting to watch something like that unfold in real time. But Lee Hyeon-Su's matter was definitely not.

Kang Jin-Ho grumbled. “And he doesn’t even train properly, either.”

“Exactly what I said, my lord,” Wiggins smiled bitterly while nodding.

He was serious about Lee Hyeon-Su having the potential to become an excellent mage with a lot of hard work.

In the beginning, Wiggins figured teaching Lee Hyeon-Su might be fun since the latter displayed such a strong desire to improve his strength despite his lack of talents in martial arts. But now, things had progressed far beyond the level of 'fun.'

Kang Jin-Ho furrowed his brow. “Should we push him a little harder?”

“Although it’s not a bad idea...” Wiggins shook his head. “I wouldn’t recommend it, my lord. We shouldn’t forget that we’re talking about Lee Hyeon-Su here. That fool won’t change his mind just because others strongly demand it from him.”

“Yes, that’s true.”

Everyone in the Martial Assembly could be stubborn to a fault at times, but Lee Hyeon-Su was especially bad in that regard. Even if someone threatened him with a knife, given half a choice, he would never do something he didn't like!

“And my lord, him getting stronger via magic won’t help us much in the first place.”

Kang Jin-Ho nodded at what Wiggins said. When he thought about it, Lee Hyeon-Su becoming a little stronger wouldn’t serve as much of a variable, anyway.

From what he heard, learning magic didn’t immediately boost one’s combat potential. He and the Martial Assembly had too many things to take care of right now to worry about something that might help in a decade or two.

“Got it. Let’s discuss that issue some other time,” said Kang Jin-Ho.

“Understood.”

At the end of the day, Lee Hyeon-Su was the one who had to decide.

Kang Jin-Ho respected Lee Hyeon-Su's opinions. A smart man like him must've already considered what Kang Jin-Ho and Wiggins were thinking about here. Since this topic concerned his future, he must've given it a lot of thought.

Since Lee Hyeon-Su had reached this conclusion, Kang Jin-Ho shouldn’t run his mouth off and interject. At least, for now.

Being the Assembly Master didn’t grant him the authority to unilaterally decide on the fate of the Assembly members, after all!

“So, in summary, mages can’t be considered a combat force right now. And we must wait a bit before confirming the result,” said Kang Jin-Ho.

“Yes, my lord. Unfortunately, that is one of the unique quirks of being a mage.”

“Got it,” Kang Jin-Ho coolly nodded.

This news couldn’t be considered a disaster or a blessing. Although nurturing a combat force for the future was a great thing, the Martial Assembly’s situation wasn’t peaceful enough to make plans for a distant future.

Many things had happened so far, including the establishment of MK and forming an alliance with the Round Table. However, all those things would mean nothing if the Martial Assembly couldn’t sustain itself.

The Japanese martial society was getting ready to invade South Korea, after all. Losing in the war against them meant things like MK and a corps of mages would ultimately be a pointless exercise.

No one could tell what might happen tomorrow, so how could anyone guess the nature of events happening decades later?

Wiggins sneakily studied Kang Jin-Ho’s expression, then grinned wryly after guessing his lord’s sentiments. “However, we have people who will fill the void in the meantime.”

“

Mm

?”

“The Assembly members trained by the Chevaliers have displayed outstanding growth, my lord. Even if they are deployed in combat tomorrow, they will still perform extremely well.”

Kang Jin-Ho stared at Wiggins in a slight surprise.

Wiggins had always been stingy with his praises. He had never been harsh with words and didn’t directly criticize people if he could help it. And on things he wasn’t able to personally confirm, his usual style was to brush it aside with some vague-sounding opinions.

So, for someone like him to offer an evaluation of

‘Ready to be deployed right now’

signified that things had progressed quite a lot.

‘No, hold on...?’

After thinking about it for a second, Kang Jin-Ho realized he shouldn’t be too surprised by this situation.

During the battle against the Round Table, the Chevaliers performed admirably well.

One of the noteworthy things during that battle was how the Chevaliers were demonstrably superior in terms of strength compared to other knight orders. Yes, the Chevaliers were undoubtedly respected as the strongest in France. However, the French knight order should not have been

‘better’

than top knight orders from other nations to this degree.

Yet the Chevaliers not only managed to defend their positions, they even pushed back the enemy knight orders boasting several times their numbers.

Did that mean being imprisoned in the Martial Assembly had improved the Chevaliers to an unbelievable degree? That couldn't be it.

The Chevaliers hadn’t acquired anything in particular from the Assembly other than some free time. However, time was precisely what these people needed.

This was the crucial difference between the Martial Assembly and the Round Table.

Although it’d be embarrassing to admit this, the Assembly’s martial artists didn’t actually do anything.

In the past, they received various ‘requests’ and did unsavory things all over the country. However, such activities came to an end once Kang Jin-Ho became the Assembly Master.

That meant the Assembly's martial artists were no different from athletes who trained the whole day but didn't participate in competitions. With things like this, it was no wonder they could continuously devote themselves to training!

The situation in the Round Table was obviously different. After all, their martial artists, the knight orders, were elite warriors acting as pillars of support for each of their mother nations.

Just like how a representative Knight didn't have enough time to train themselves due to their inhumane workload, the members of various knight orders also had to spend a lot of their time dealing with their assigned duties.

Obviously, their administrative duties weren't as hectic as a representative Knight's. On the other hand, they were assigned the so-called 'field duties.'

As the Round Table interfered in various conflicts around the globe, the knight orders were ordered to leave their countries to participate in said conflicts.

As an example, didn’t the Chevaliers come to South Korea to kill Kang Jin-Ho?

These duties prevented the Chevaliers from concentrating on their training. But now, they didn't have to worry about external factors and could focus solely on improving their martial prowess. And the result of their focus was on display right here.

There was one more thing to consider.

If the Chevaliers trained on their own, things would've ended with their martial prowess improving by a bit. However, being imprisoned as a group greatly improved their camaraderie and trust in each other, while their proficiency in group combat went through the roof.

Wiggins introduced the concept of group combat to the Assembly while welcoming the Chevaliers. Didn't he also introduce Western-style swordsmanship, though? And Western-style martial arts?

Teaching those things was a secondary issue. The crucial bit was teaching the organized, military-style combat techniques meant for group combat to a bunch of martial artists who only knew how to charge at the enemy camp and punch the enemies in the faces!

Having more 'soldiers' proficient in group combat exponentially strengthened the group. This fact was true now, and it was also true back in Zhongyuan.

Gangho boasted great power even before the demon cult grew in prominence. Even then, the warriors of Gangho, capable of defeating a hundred regular soldiers by themselves, did not dare provoke the imperial court.

That was because they knew they would lose horribly in a battle of a thousand against a hundred thousand, a ten thousand against a million!

Of course, the Assembly didn’t have that many numbers, so it’d never become as powerful as the imperial army. Still, taking martial artists who were individually useless and turning them into deployable combat assets so soon was a commendable effort, indeed.

If their hard work proved its worth, the usefulness of group combat would spread to not just those training in Western martial arts but to everyone else, too.

Kang Jin-Ho contemplatively nodded. “Sounds like I should speak to Vincent soon.”

“That's a good idea, my lord. I honestly believe that nothing is more important to an organization than rewarding good behaviors and punishing bad actions. Recognizing Vincent's hard work will surely motivate him and the rest of the Chevaliers to work even harder for the Martial Assembly,” said Wiggins with a smirk. “After all, aren't they also the members of this organization?”

“Yeah, they are,” Kang Jin-Ho chuckled softly.

The Chevaliers joining the Assembly's ranks was an unexpected turn of events for Kang Jin-Ho. But this event still served to improve the Assembly's overall combat strength.

It also became a factor that shifted the Round Table’s perception of the Assembly from that of an invader to something a little more favorable.

Chevaliers had been a great help both practically and politically, yet Kang Jin-Ho had not been paying them as much attention as he should. And he felt a bit guilty about that.

“Wiggins, set up a meeting with Vincent.”

“Will do, my lord.”

Kang Jin-Ho grinned wryly just then. His past self wouldn't have taken the time out to personally praise a subordinate for a job well done. But now, he must pay attention to things like this.

Kang Jin-Ho glanced at the elder of the demon cult next. “Chang Min?”

“My liege! I await your command!” Chang Min energetically roared while expressing the greatest courtesy and respect he could. Unfortunately, the unnecessary grandiosity of his gesture was not something words could adequately describe, and Kang Jin-Ho could only groan deeply at it.

The era had changed, and the current circumstances had also changed. Yet Chang Min’s respectful attitude toward Kang Jin-Ho had not changed all that much from what the latter was used to back in the Zhongyuan days.

One could say that this was a bit anachronistic.

But Chang Min could escape criticism because he was surprisingly open-minded for who he was. And he was also someone capable of... ‘enthusiastically’ accepting the changes in the eras than most people!

For example...

Kang Jin-Ho narrowed his eyes a little. “Did you get tattoos?”

“

Oh, uh

...” Chang Min sneakily hid the tattoos on his arm by lowering the sleeve a bit. “My apologies for being so disrespectful, my liege. I will gladly accept any punishment for...”

“I don’t care about that. All I want to know is if you got tattoos.”

“Y-yes, my liege! I did get a few. And they came out quite beautifully. Would you like to see them?”

“...Nah, I'm good,” Kang Jin-Ho shook his head while staring weirdly at Chang Min.

‘Is it just me? Or does Chang Min look a bit younger...?’

Somewhat unfitting for his

very

advanced age, Chang Min's drip was sensational. Even someone with a nonexistent sense of fashion like Kang Jin-Ho had to concede that this old gent shouldn't be slumming it out here in the Assembly HQ but strutting it somewhere in Italy instead!

But the odd thing was, it wasn’t just Chang Min’s fashion sense that seemed to de-age but even his face!

‘Huh. To think he’s been rejuvenated at his age...’

Kang Jin-Ho could only sigh deeply at this complicated emotion defying his attempts to describe it.

“Chang Min, what’s that in your ear?”

“Heok! My apologies, my liege! I forgot that I was wearing this...!” Chang Min gasped in shock and hurriedly took out a Bluetooth earpod from his ear.

An old man over a century old was kitted out in a slim-fit gray business suit, while his white hair was combed neatly in the 'regent' style. And to complete the look, he even had Bluetooth earpods, too!

As a man with an utter lack of interest in all things fashion-related, Kang Jin-Ho couldn't evaluate if this was a good look or not, but one thing still seemed certain. He hadn't seen this get-up all that often anywhere, that much was for sure!

“Chang Min...?”

“Yes, my liege!”

“...Do you

have

to look like that?”

“But,

uh

...” Chang Min cautiously scanned Kang Jin-Ho, before sheepishly voicing his opinion. “My liege, hearing you criticize my fashion sense is a bit...

Uhm

...”

“...!”

Kang Jin-Ho’s expression crumpled when that unexpected blow landed squarely in his gut.